Bloodbath as eight murdered at party

About 9 p.m. on Sunday, a group of persons, including children, stood outside the lawn of First Lady HQ in Cherry Tree Lane in Four Paths, Clarendon, enjoying the music and bingo at a resident's birthday celebration.

Several of them watched as a car approached and parked neatly along the sidewalk. At least three men exited the vehicle but the partygoers thought they had come to join the celebration. A few seconds later their lives were changed forever.

"Mi just hear when one a di man say, 'Mi ago kill off uno [expletive]' and mi hear di first shot and mi run off. Den mi look behind mi and mi see bare fire. Mi know mi a run and mi hear footsteps behind mi and mi just dash inna di gully," an eyewitness said. The gunmen then drove to another section of the community where they shot and killed another man.

According to Acting Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, when the gunfire subsided, eight people were pronounced dead while nine others were left nursing gunshot wounds. The deceased have been identified as Aiden Bartley, seven, a student at Four Paths Primary and Infant School; Kavel Daley, 27, a therapist; Lawrence Francis, 50, a construction worker; Diamond Bennett, 20, a cashier; Errol Stewart, 58, a butcher; Jermaine Boothe, 32; Courtney Messam; and a woman identified as Margaret. They were all of Cherry Tree Lane addresses. A one-year-old boy and a 70-year-old woman are among the injured.

Debbie Ann Francis held on to her stomach and wept uncontrollably as she lost Francis (her husband), Daley (her daughter) and Messam (her cousin). She said minutes before the massacre, Daley was in a vibrant mood and even gave her jerk pork from a plate.

"Whole a we happy last night (Sunday). Almighty God, mi don't know what yuh do to mi. Dem kill mi Kerry. Kerry feed mi last night and we a ramp. Mi daughter nuh live fi see her 28th birthday Sunday a come. It better mi did know say she cripple and mi have her fi look after. Dem nuh give mi daughter a second chance," she wailed.

"Lawd God mi husband dead inna mi hand. Mi nuh have nutten right now. Mi husband and mi pickney gone. Woiee. Mi husband dead with him eye and mouth open like him wah say summen and him couldn't say anything," she said. One of Francis' daughters said her father complained about being cold the entire day despite the heat.

"Six o'clock nuh catch him a road but because is mi babyfather birthday, him and mi sister come out. Kerry nuh go party but dis Sunday would be her birthday and she order her cake and just come out because it was an August birthday celebration. Kerry was just happy and a dance and mi ask her how she a gwan like pickney suh and mi never know say a di last time dis mi would see her laugh," she said.

The woman said when she heard the explosions, she ran through a fence which cut her skin.

"Mi sister run enuh and dem still shot har. Dem shoot mi father inna him chest. Kerry lay down on her face and when mummy turn her over she nuh move. It was a good ting mi did send down my kids dem because mi would just beg the gunman dem to kill mi if anything did do dem," she said.

Another man said when the shots started firing, he quickly grabbed the one-year-old and ran to safety. He said he watched as the baby's older brother ran towards a red car but fell after his body was pierced by bullets.

"I was hiding with the baby and a beg him to stop cry because mi never know if di man dem a follow mi. Afterwards when mi come out, somebody say mi get shot but mi realise say a never mi, it was the baby and that's why him did a cry. All of dis just pain mi heart, enuh, man. A bare working class people round here and no war nah gwan," he said.